Alexander Rossi tops Free Practice under Sakhir Sun

Only four days after competing in a Formula 1 race in Brazil, talented American Alexander Rossi was back in action for Racing Engineering. He was confident ahead of the 45-minute session in which he ended up on top, as he looks to bring the momentum into the race.

Having performed strongly in Russia, Pierre Gasly was another driver hoping to carry across the momentum as he quickly looked to set the benchmark. He continued to challenge for the top spot in the opening few minutes. While a good run of times will make him a threat in the race.

After an up an down year, King, who recently won the Young Driver Excellence Award, will be hoping for a strong end of season, having already got a fourth place at this circuit earlier this year. However; he’ll have to do a lot, to overshadow his popular teammate.

As the track warmed up, Stoffel Vandoorne took his slot at the top. This didn’t last long though, as Rossi quickly surpassed him. Many would soon settle into race runs, as the the order settled down by the mid-point in the session. By this point, Rossi lead Vandoorne by only 0.033 seconds.

In fact the top four were not separated by much with first to fourth split by a meagre tenth of a second. Gasly remained strong in third, while Nobuharu Matsushita in fourth, could be on to repeat his impressive qualifying from a few months ago, where he joined pole sitter Vandoorne on the front row.